If we’re gonna take a look at what Americans are doing customizing American cars, let’s take a quick look at what the Germans are doing with German cars. Take a tour of Berlin, visit it for a few days, wander around for a week even and you still wouldn’t end up in the parts of town you need to be in to find cars like this.

Right now we’re looking at a 1970-1975 Opel Ascona. American car enthusiasts usually think of early 1970s Asconas like this rally car sliding through hilly wine country.

I much prefer this Berlin Ascona. I imagine that its owner, sporting a fanny pack and a super tight cap, loves it absolutely.

But that’s not exactly a stretch of the imagination. ASCONA. Let the whole world know!

At first it was a bit harder for me to appreciate this customized E30. I can see the cool look of the Opel as something of an alternative to a bit more refined Youngtimer chic, but this BMW is something else. Rarely are you prepared for a car to have not just a splashing water flame paint job, but also a scowling fiberglass front, crazy eyes headlights, a turbo and F16 power. E30 traditionalists may have to avert their eyes, but I kind of like the thing.

Other than the totally functional cut-in hood scoop, which, judging by the car’s stickers and badges, probably helps feed air to this BMW’s micro-sized fighter-jet sourced turbine engine, I don’t really get the aesthetic of this car, but I can completely get behind the resolve and the weeks or months of planning, fabricating and parts-sourcing that went into making this car happen.

Honestly, if there’s some nutbar Berliner out there who has the wherewithal to bring such an individual, custom, nonconformist car into the world, I have no excuse not to be able to bring my own automotive dreams to fruition.

So thank you, unknown Germans, for the the inspiration, for the beauty, for everything.